Search

This article provides information on the Workshop on Religious Research in Africa that was convened by David Barrett, director of the Unit of Research of the Church of the Province of East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya from December 28, 1967 to January 12, 1968. Work on the theme of the Workshop, the Life and Growth of the Church in East Africa, had begun eighteen months earlier and most of the papers prepared by the seventy participants had been distributed several weeks before they met at the University College, Nairobi. The morning sessions were guided by Bishop Stephen Neil, by Canon Houtart and by Professors Ranger and Tanner. The broad theme helped participants to pin down the topics of common interest. Ranger, who described his work as that of a political and social historian, assured them that the Christian conscience had penetrated East Africa deeper than one thought. The Workshop showed that there was as yet no agreement about such key concepts as that of the High God, that of ancestor worship, and still less about the meaning of the selected ritual expressions. Since most of the participants were also active missionaries from the Christian Churches, the discussion often turned to the formulation of problems for research workers.

Relative comparative advantage is measured by contrasting country ratios of the domestic resource costs per unit of foreign exchange earned by exporting coffee to the exchange rate. Uganda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania have strong relative comparative advantages in coffee vis-à-vis the Ivory Coast, largely because of higher opportunity costs of Ivoirian factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the rank-dimensional approach to the analysis of social stratification has become increasingly prominent. One of its advocates, Johan Galtung, has made relations between nations his major point of empirical reference. The present paper applies rank-dimensional analysis to the deprived nations of Africa and Asia (or the so-called Third World) in an attempt to grasp the degree of rank homogeneity within the group and to relate its rank characteristics to the more privileged nations in the global system. This exercise demonstrates that there is a linear relationship between total rank and rank disequilibrium in the Afro-Asian group; a finding which has a number of significant theoretical ramifications. The major theoretical innovation in this connexion is the concept of rank divergence-defined as the degree to which a unit in a system of stratification diverges from the typical relational pattern holding between the unit's total rank and rank disequilibrium scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latest C.A.F.R.A.D. seminar dealt with an urgent issue in Africa today, for almost everywhere education is one of the main priorities and educational administration one of the main problems. Over 40 civil servants, with wide specialist knowledge and responsibilities, came from 26 different African states; there were seven senior educationalists from Morocco—a sign of the importance attached by the local Government both to the seminar and to C.A.F.R.A.D. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The governments of Africa, in planning for economic and social development, have become increasingly aware that they can no longer afford to treat population as an exogenous variable. They have begun to study the component variables of population change, and their interrelationships, and have paid special attention to the critical role of fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent studies by Adelman and by Friedlander and Silver, which have investigated whether regression equations derived from cross-section data can be used to predict the impact of socioeconomic development on changing levels of fertility, are reviewed critically. Regression analyses based on data for 57 countries c. 1960 show that fertility (gross reproduction rate) varies cross-sectionally with region as well as with level of development (as measured by per capita income, percent labor force in primary sector, expectation of life, illiteracy rate). Using equations derived from the cross-section study and time-series data for five European countries during the period that their fertility rates fell, it is shown that predictions about past fertility changes are in error. The results suggest caution in the use of cross-section relations to predict the course of fertility in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on some methodological considerations concerning the study of aptitudes and the elaboration of psychological tests for African natives. The notion of aptitude as a hereditary disposition exercising a limiting effect on some defined behavior becomes even less valuable when it concerns people ho suffer from lack of education, as in the case of African populations. It is in such groups the necessity arises of predicting work performance by means of tests. It also becomes important to study learning procedures whereby work capacity can be developed, and to provide adequate information as to how any desired development can best be achieved. For a long time scientific psychology has concentrated research on the study of aptitudes. It is opined that by means of proper communication, a given capacity may frequently develop in a person who was previously devoid of it. A first approach to the study of the intellectual capacities of Africans is to observe and to make an inventory of the activities which are valued within original African culture. Accurate psychological knowledge of the behavior involved in these activities, of the techniques employed by them and of the materials they utilize would be valuable in order to locate and to overcome the difficulties which Africans experience in adjusting to the demands peculiar to an industrial civilization.

The article presents information on the political instability in independent black Africa. This paper is an attempt to (1) clarify conceptual approaches to the study of political instability, conflict and violence; (2) summarize and compare existing quantitative investigations of these phenomena in national political systems and (3) investigate empirical relationships between different kinds of political instability in contemporary African nations, which have been largely omitted from existing published work. Political systems are those structured social relationships in which values are authoritatively allocated, or in which it is determined "who gets what, when, how." Put otherwise, political relationships are that sub-set of social relations concerned with the goal-attainment of the society, or with getting and distributing the values which groups in society want. In social systems of maximum value-congruence, political behavior is literally the administration of valued things, but in societies where goals are not universally shared, politics is the distribution of things by authorities, whose social roles are based on the expectation that members of the society who do not receive the rewards they want will either voluntarily comply with authoritative decisions or be forced to comply.

The article presents a study on the relations among the criterua of mass media political structure, mass media performance and political leadership in Africa. It says that the operation of mass communications in Africa is uttered in by myriad of factors which mark out as one of several institutions. It states that the editorial policy of the periodical "West African Pilot" is shaped by the African and American experience of its founder and its editorial distribution emphazises racial and colonial issues. It adds that the relation between the political leadership and political communication in Africa can be analyzed together with main dimensions such as the communication patterns of the leaders and their organizations and use of mass media.

The rate of adoption of family planning in the developing regions is the central issue in any attempt to anticipate the course of world population growth. Accordingly, a typology is developed to express some of the theoretical possibilities connected with this process. The global distribution of these types is considered briefly. A more detailed analysis is made of the potential for family planning in tropical Africa. The results suggest that a substantial interest in contraception exists throughout the continent. That this interest is not associated generally with effective use is taken as evidence of the transitional character of the population. Prospects for the resolution of this marginality are judged favorable if present motivation is effectively developed by family-planning programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the relevance of the conventional national accounts systems to the traditional African economy and concludes that they contribute little because they omit certain economic activities and fail to recognise the reciprocity between social and economic activities. Social accounting is thus more relevant. Lack of statistical data may make it necessary to conduct special surveys and in some cases a tribe or village or economic region may be a more useful accounting unit than a nation. A modified system of accounts is suggested, based on the framework of the four consolidated accounts of the SNA. It provides linkages to many more non-monetised activities. Other linkages would be provided through supporting tables emphasising social activities and transfers. A system of transactor accounts in matrix form is also suggested. In the case of communities smaller than the nation several external transactor sectors could be included. It is recognised that the problem of evaluation of social activities and a number of economic activities remains to be solved and it is concluded that ‘time spent’ may be the only common unit or value to equate such activities. The final section deals with investment in human resources and proposes a balance sheet approach to indicative planning. This exercise would be related to demographic projections in several variants. Other factors to be analysed dynamically would be education and health status, public finance and, ultimately, distribution of income and wealth since it is noted that the process of monetisation is having an impact which may have important welfare implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As is well known most African countries are too small to provide an adequate market for large-scale industry and the only way in which such plants can be economically established is through two or more countries combining so as to offer a common market. Since the common market is only large enough for one plant, however, the country in which this is located will derive the main benefit unless special measures are taken to avoid this. These measures are discussed in the first part of this paper. The alternative, discussed in the second part, is when feasible to divide the manufacturing process into two parts so that two or more countries can share in producing the final product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the validity of the 'uneconomic culture' thesis. A common assertion is that livestock have limited commercial value to the African, being accumulated mainly for social reasons. Two hypotheses are tested: (1) livestock accumulation can be profitable to the individual even if society incurs losses by such behaviour and (2) livestock purchases are the African's best investment opportunity. Support of the first hypothesis is found by indicating that the property system leads to divergences between private and social benefits. Support of the second hypothesis is indicated by calculating the present value of cattle in farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This meeting was organised jointly by the Government of Haute-Volta and by the Cultural Division of U.N.E.S.C.O., which had taken the initiative, as part of its preparation for a general History of Africa. In this context one must mention also the recent colloquia held at Niamey and at Timbuktu, the former concerned with oral, the second with written sources, ofAfrican history. This Ouagadougou meeting was essentially logistic in character; having established in principle that it is necessary to collect African oral traditions in order to fill out the outlines of history, the task was to list the problems of all kinds posed by the work of collection, and to consider possible solutions, especially in connection with both national and international research plans. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the paper "On Economic Bargaining Between African Governments and Multi-National Companies," by Robert L. Curry. The author examines the bargaining process between African governments and multinational companies. A survey of experience in recent years leads the authors to conclude that African governments could have obtained more favorable agreements if they had conducted their bargaining differently. The article starts with a review of the main elements in the negotiation situation chiefly in natural resource under-takings. The government is perceived as gaining benefits, primarily in employment and income for its people as well as public revenue against certain costs resulting from having a foreign based company exploit a resource rather than a local one. For its part the firm has costs in the allocation of capital, technology and expertise that it employs in return for benefits of income and profits. The authors observe that the approaches of countries are influenced by impatience for maximum economic development and therefore they tend to hurry to conclude transactions especially where only one company is immediately available for a project.

Tropical Africa is unlike any other part of the world, and The problems of understanding the commercial systems of the area can be frustrating. Various physical, economic and social factors lead to marketing procedures that can be radically unusual. This author analyzes and describes the marketing patterns and techniques found in Nigeria and outlines some of the changes that are taking place as the country develops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stepped-up tempo of economic development in Tropical Africa is opening new sales opportunities for American business. But for most companies the area is still a marketing "Dark Continent"; other than the large oil companies, few have ventured in on any sizable basis. This article discusses the potentials and the problems involved in tapping the market. It also offers suggestions to cope with the anticipated difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fourth international conference of the International Academy of Oral Pathology will be held at the University of the Witwaterstrand, Johannesburg, on July 15, 16 and 17, 1969. It precedes the Annual Congress of the South African Society of Pathologists which takes place in Johannesburg. Individual sessions at the Conference will be devoted to original work in the fields of salivary gland pathology, diseases of the oral regions specific to Africa, and the epidemiology and prevention of oral disease.

This article presents information on the paper "Skin Diseases in Africa," by S. Rothman that was published in a 1962 issue of the periodical "Archives of Dermatology." This is a most readable account of the author's trip to Africa and is full of fascinating observations, for example, basal-cell carcinomata are practically non-existent in the Bantu population except in Bantu albinos who almost all suffer from highly destructive lesions. Kaposi's sarcoma is very common in the Bantu and the lesion as seen in this race is identical with those reported elsewhere except that it commonly occurs in Bantu children, and here the process is characterized by massive involvement of lymph nodes preceding the appearance of skin lesions.